As we near the end of the Easter season, I have a last set of Lenten calendars to share. Linda S. and her adult daughter collaborated on Advent calendars back in last December and decided to work together again during Lent. Since they had trouble choosing which Lenten calendar template to use, they decided to use all four! They each only worked on two of the calendars per day and swapped the calendars back and forth on a regular basis. Each calendar was a joint effort.

I love the idea of a prayer collaboration, of passing the calendars back and forth. Sounds like a prayer exercise for a prayer or church group or family. But why wait until next Advent or Lent? Use a simple calendar template for the month and pass it around among the members of your prayer/church group or members of your family.

Here is the explanation for each of their calendars:

• The hexagon grid was where we prayed for individuals or groups. We were surprised at some of the people we felt compelled to pray for, but did our best not to ignore or judge those impulses.
• The “path” grid that includes a few dates has words from the lectionary readings. However, we didn’t limit ourselves to the sequence, other than on the few dated shapes. We realize the words aren’t obvious and think in a few weeks even we won’t be able to identify all the words. One reads bottom to top rather than top to bottom and fools us repeatedly. Another, beginning with O, reads from outside to inside.
•  Our spiral format is “anything goes” and we filled in without regard to sequence.
• The calendar grid is also “anything goes” with the exception that each individual block has a black line that intersects each of its four borders. The lines don’t always go straight through from top to bottom, or side to side, but it is entertaining to follow them.